Women in Red: How Israel’s Political Shift Is Reshaping Women’s Rights

Clad in crimson robes and white caps, the protestors calling themselves the “Women in Red” once marched silently, borrowing imagery from The Handmaid’s Tale to warn of looming danger to women’s rights in Israel.

What government officials initially dismissed as theatrical exaggeration is now increasingly seen as foresight, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition pushes Israel toward a more religiously conservative future.

Alongside attempts to weaken the Supreme Court, long viewed as a guardian of gender equality, religious parties have advanced laws expanding religious authority over civil life and public spaces.

The erosion of women’s rights is reflected in global rankings, with Israel falling to 84th place in the 2025–26 Women, Peace and Security Index after ranking 27th just three years earlier.

Domestic data reinforces the trend, as the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute’s Gender Index shows a six percent decline, driven largely by reduced political representation and economic power for women.

Women’s presence in public leadership has sharply diminished, with only six women among thirty-three ministers and no permanent female director-generals appointed across dozens of ministries.

Legal scholars warn that proposed legislation expanding rabbinical court authority over civil disputes could further entrench discrimination, placing women’s financial and parental rights under exclusively male religious judges.

Personal accounts underscore these concerns, including stories from women like Moriah, who describes years of custody battles in rabbinical courts as isolating, punitive, and fundamentally biased against women.

Advocates argue these legal and political changes coincide with rising violence against women, increased gun ownership, and a broader rollback that critics say is dragging Israeli women back decades.